Birds of Chicago hit the road

Birds of Chicago

For now and the foreseeable future, the road is home for Birds of Chicago.

The duo, namely Montreal-born Allison Russell (of the currently-on-hiatus Vancouver band Po’ Girl) and Chicago-based J.T. Nero (JT and the Clouds), spent almost all of last year on tour and are looking at a similar itinerary this year as well. They’re currently out supporting the self-titled debut album they released last October, a thoroughly authentic slice of North Americana that effortlessly finds the common ground between country, gospel, soul and rock and roll.

Reached on the phone while getting ready to check out of her hotel after the recent Folk Alliance conference in Toronto, Russell said the band’s hectic tour schedule means they can’t always play with the “family collective” of musicians who sometimes form their backing band.

“We tour like maniacs,” she said with a laugh. “The two of us are going to be on the road for 11 months this year, so if we tried to force all our beloved musicians into doing that with us, it probably would crash and burn pretty quickly. It’s nice to have the variety throughout the year, some shows where we get to have the full family band and some shows where it’s just the two of us, some (as a) trio or quartet. We enjoy it, it keeps things fresh and it’s nice that the songs kind of take on new lives as well.”

Russell and Nero initially met at the Folk Alliance conference in Vancouver in 2001 and Russell said the two soon “became musical friends,” their respective bands often crossing paths to collaborate or tour with each other. In 2011, Nero released a solo album named Mountains / Forests which featured Russell’s vocals throughout. Not long after, the two decided to make their musical partnership official by forming Birds of Chicago.

“It progressed really naturally,” said Russell of their artistic relationship. “We always had a real affinity and it was always just really natural and easy to sing together.”

Their near-constant touring has made it difficult for the two to sit down and write together, though Russell said their extensive time in hotels, buses and airplanes has started to be put to good musical use.

“We’ve just been getting better about writing while we’re on the road because that was a challenge as things started to pick up steam when we were working more and more. You really have to be more disciplined about the writing because you don’t have these stretches at home to do it, you kind of have to make the time while you’re on the road. And actually that’s been a really great process for us because, once you get a song together to the point where we each think, ‘Yeah, this could work,’ we get to test it out on the audience and it’s been great,” she said.

As a testament to the band’s connection with their audience, their album was financed by money donated by fans through the crowd funding website Kickstarter. The duo’s initial goal of raising $15,000 was met in just nine days and they eventually raised over $22,000 in a month.

“We were kind of stunned by the response and the support and the interest of people who had followed Po’ Girl, people who had followed JT and the Clouds, just kind of got on board and said ‘Yeah, we’d like to hear what you come up with, you two,’ so it was very galvanizing and obviously it gave us the funds to actually just take three weeks and make the record in one go. I’ve actually never had that luxury before – usually it’s a few days here, a few days there, you go out and tour and scrape together a little more money, do it in kind of bits and pieces – and so it was pretty amazing to have essentially people who are interested in the music becoming your label,” she said.

“You know, it was amazing, the whole concept of crowd funding, which makes it accessible for individuals to be patrons of the arts in an affordable way. We’ve now contributed to other Kickstarters as well, projects that we’re interested in seeing come to fruition, so it’s been a really cool process.”

After their current Ontario tour with Oh Susanna, the band will be heading to the South by Southwest festival in Texas and then flying out for a two-month European tour before coming back to start touring festivals in North America this summer. In short, Russell won’t be home any time soon.

“I don’t quite feel like I have a home city, other than my hometown, Montreal, these days because we’re always in different places,” said Russell, who also has family in Vancouver, Toronto and around Ontario. “Home is where the loved ones are and we never get to see them quite enough but they’re certainly more precious for that.”